P0WERWAGON
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- burnaby BC كافر
the rail handguard is quite stable.
VZ-58s and more...FAQs are Post 1
- Thread starter Deckard
- Start date
- Location
- Downtown Vancouver, BC
Looks like he's using a side by side arrangement for his mags, as opposed to a flip design. Never heard of that before...
I just modified my front handguard to allow it to be removed without disturbing my optic (vz scout rail). Now I can permanently mount my rail; it is very stable. No more removing the optic every time I have to clean it (changing zero problem).
I'll post pics on how to do it when I get some time.
I'll post pics on how to do it when I get some time.
VZ58 Hanguard Modification for VZ Scout Rail
This is my solution to that annoying practice of having to remove the rail after every shoot to clean the gas system
. The handguard modification allows for the removal of the handguard without removing the optic rail.
I'll explain the three modifications first, but to understand them more easily, see the pictures of the handguard removal later in the post.
There are three simple steps to the modification:
1. Removing steel and barfwood material at the rear interior of the handguard. This allows the rear to be lifted up and back into a gap between the rail and the rear sight block after the pin is pulled from the handguard. The depth of the relief should be the depth of the gap plus about half a mm or so. Check as you go.
2. Shortening and reshaping the front prongs on the handguard. Shortening permits the prongs to clear the retaining slots when the handguard has been lifter up and back into the rear sight block/rail gap. The addition of clearance on the bottom of the prongs allows the handguard to pull forward, letting the rear of the handguard drop free of the rear sight block. Again, remove material in small increments and check as you go.
3. Skimming a bit of barfwood from the rear top of the handguard. This is clearance to allow the front of the handguard to lift when the rear is engaged in the rear sight block/rail gap.
Modified Handguard Removal Process
Here you can see the gap between the rear sight block and the rail clearly (right under the third rail cross slot from front, including the one with the scope ring in it):
1. Pop the pin and lift the handguard to fit into this gap under the rail:
2. Lift the front of the handguard. This is permitted by the shorter prongs and the relief in the top of the handguard:
3. Pull directly forward. The rear drops and the handguard can be lifted clear:
I did this with a Dremel, but a mill would make it much easier (and prettier
). Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
Hope this is useful. Feel free to FAQ it, Deckard, if you'd like.
This is my solution to that annoying practice of having to remove the rail after every shoot to clean the gas system
. The handguard modification allows for the removal of the handguard without removing the optic rail.I'll explain the three modifications first, but to understand them more easily, see the pictures of the handguard removal later in the post.
There are three simple steps to the modification:
1. Removing steel and barfwood material at the rear interior of the handguard. This allows the rear to be lifted up and back into a gap between the rail and the rear sight block after the pin is pulled from the handguard. The depth of the relief should be the depth of the gap plus about half a mm or so. Check as you go.
2. Shortening and reshaping the front prongs on the handguard. Shortening permits the prongs to clear the retaining slots when the handguard has been lifter up and back into the rear sight block/rail gap. The addition of clearance on the bottom of the prongs allows the handguard to pull forward, letting the rear of the handguard drop free of the rear sight block. Again, remove material in small increments and check as you go.
3. Skimming a bit of barfwood from the rear top of the handguard. This is clearance to allow the front of the handguard to lift when the rear is engaged in the rear sight block/rail gap.
Modified Handguard Removal Process
Here you can see the gap between the rear sight block and the rail clearly (right under the third rail cross slot from front, including the one with the scope ring in it):
1. Pop the pin and lift the handguard to fit into this gap under the rail:
2. Lift the front of the handguard. This is permitted by the shorter prongs and the relief in the top of the handguard:
3. Pull directly forward. The rear drops and the handguard can be lifted clear:
I did this with a Dremel, but a mill would make it much easier (and prettier
). Smoke 'em if you got 'em.Hope this is useful. Feel free to FAQ it, Deckard, if you'd like.
You can if you take off the rail. There is a machined slot in the scope base (the clamp on the rear sight block) that acts as a rear sight.
I cannot use it, however, since I have an AR type stock with a higher cheekweld.
ESQ : good job... before i saw your mod , i thought of a simpler way, i was gonna remove the top bridge (and metal below it) that connects the two side brackets for the locking pin, this will allow me to move the HG back 5mm, i might need to also remove some of the front prongs. any down side to this simplify mod?
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I'm not sure, but you might lose too much much material. If you remove the bridge at the back, you are relying mostly on the stamped insert under the barfwood to hold the HG together. Since it appears to be brazed onto the pin bridge, I don't know if this would be strong enough. I don't have the HG in front of me, so I am going off memory. I'll have a look at it when I get home.
Your way would be a bit simpler, but more visible. I did it this way so that there wasn't much noticeable change to the exterior of the HG. In fact, if you sanded down the whole top of the HG to the level of my relief, you wouldn't even notice the material removed at the back (since it is only removed to the level of the pin bridge top). The only visible change would be the prong shortening, but the originals are much larger than they need to be.
Also, with a hole in the top, more exhaust gas fouling would settle around your optic, but that might be negligible.
Give it a try and let us know how it works. If you screw it up, no worries, probably plenty of people with spares lying around after installing aftermarket handguards.
Either way, this now represents a way to permanently mount an optic on the '58 and have full access to field strip it.
^That's a good idea. I just got a scout mount myself.
Here's the thing though, won't you want to remove your red dot sight when cleaning anyways? I use 2 kettles of boiling water and pour it down the gas system and thorough the barrel and receiver in the bathtub. I'm getting a bushnell holosight which is supposedly waterproof but I don't know how well it would react to water that hot.
What do you do when you clean your gun? Do you cover the sight somehow or are you just super careful when pouring the water down the bore/gas system etc?
Also, the instruction manual for the scout mount says that upon removal of the scope rail if you unscrew the right side first every time then you will not lose zero. Is this true?
Here's the thing though, won't you want to remove your red dot sight when cleaning anyways? I use 2 kettles of boiling water and pour it down the gas system and thorough the barrel and receiver in the bathtub. I'm getting a bushnell holosight which is supposedly waterproof but I don't know how well it would react to water that hot.
What do you do when you clean your gun? Do you cover the sight somehow or are you just super careful when pouring the water down the bore/gas system etc?
Also, the instruction manual for the scout mount says that upon removal of the scope rail if you unscrew the right side first every time then you will not lose zero. Is this true?
You can wrap the optic in a plastic bag easily enough. I use a long-necked funnel for pouring the boiling water into the chamber. And I do it super careful
As for not losing zero... if you tighten the screws in the same order and to the same torque every time, it will minimise zero loss, but it will wander a bit anyway. My experience is that it wanders somewhere between 1/2 and 4 moa every remount. The extreme end was probably me changing the torque level on one or more screws. Mostly, it is just the uncertainty of where I am shooting when I remount it that bugs me.
Also, never removing the mount allows you to loctite and really torque down the mounting screws. I have had them rattle loose after a few hundered rounds before, and I am afraid of overtightening them and either stripping the hex or deforming the rail posts. Don't forget also, that over time, wear on the posts from removing and replacing the rail will add up to make every remount sloppier. The parts are hard anodised, so this will likely take a long time. Furthermore, there is a risk of scoring or scratching the mating parts on removal and reinsertion, or introducing debris.
So in sum, probably best to just leave it attached
